Bob Houghton’s India will aim to give a big push to the football’s rising profile in the country when they take on Syrian in the ONGC Nehru Cup Final encounter at the floodlit Ambedkar Stadium in New Delhi. The task is definitely not easy by Syrian having the psychological advantage of beating India by 3-2 in the league encounter a couple of days ago, if you goes by FIFA rank, Syria is ranked at 112 whereas India is at 151. Indian players looked a bit complacent after getting an early lead in Syria match, would be interesting to see if they have learnt any lessons from league match.
India had a good run at the ONGC cup improving its performance match by match. They were unbeaten against all the teams except Syria. Bhutia and his boys displayed class and style beating Kyrgyzstan. With Bob Houghton at the helm and Bhaichung’s boys raring to go, there will be a mad rush at the Ambedkar Stadium on Wednesday when India take on Syria in the final of the ONGC Nehru Cup.
A win against Syria in the final would make the mission accomplished, and the Team India is eyeing for that 90 minutes to make it happen.
SQUADS
Team India : Baichung Bhutia (Capt.), Subrata Paul, Surkumar Singh, N.P. Pradeep, Abhishek Yadav, Mahesh Gawli, N.S. Manju, Steven Dias,Gourmangi Singh,Climax Lawrence, Clifford Miranda, K. Ajayan, Sunil Chettri
Team Syria : Maher Al Sayed(Capt.) Mowssab Blahowss, Khaled M Albba, Aatef Jenyat, Ali Alrfaai, Mootassem Alaya, Mahmoud Al Amena , Ali Dyeb, Zeen Alabeden, Al Fandi, Waerl Ayan, Abraheim Al Hasan ,Mahmoud Alzeno,Feras Esmaeel, Zyad Chaabo
UPDATE: Mission Accomplished by India
India wins the final by 1-0
Man of the Match: Mahesh Gawli (India)
Goal : Naduparambil Pappachan Pradeep (India)
Yellow Cards
Khaled Mansoor Al Baba(Syria), Mootassem Alaya(Syria)
Steven Dias(India), Baichung Bhutia(India), Krishnan Nair Ajayan (India)
Red Card
Wael Ayan (Syria)
